I'm a single dad looking to take my 15 year old daughter and a friend on a short cruise in July. Any good info on finding a good cheap cruise if possible would be appreciated. Is Carnival cruise line an option? I've heard stories...

www.bestpricecruises.com and www.cruises-n-more.com both have very good online search engines. In addition to pricing online phone in too as sometimes ta's offer room credit that is not advertised on the websites.

cruisecritic.com and cruisemates.com are both good cruise websites with message boards.

We are going on a Royal Caribbean cruise with our older teens because they have more teen-friendly options: climbing wall, ice skating rink, theater, etc. R.C. doesn't allow much discounting so we bought our cruise through United Airlines so we would get the frequent flier miles.

Of coure it's always cheaper if you can drive to the port, so that might figure into your decision. How short a cruise do you have in mind? I've never cruised Carnival, only Princess 5 times, but from what I read, Carnival has changed from it's reputed partyboat days (at least toned it down quite a bit). It's a favorite of many seniors (senior citizens, not seniors-on-spring break), so I think it's not the party boat it used to be.

I second the recommendation to visit cruisecritic.com for a ton of info.

Something you may not know - if you are a veteran of the US military (any honorably discharged vet, not a retiree), Carnival offers a discount on many sailings, but not all. This is a new program - previously they only offered discounts to active duty and retirees.

I'm a huge Princess fan, but we are a couple with grown kids, I think Carnival might be a great option for the 15 year olds. My advice? Do you homework and don't buy till you really know what you want and know you are getting a great price. You might search for a specific cruise on a website such as travelocity.com to get a specific ship, itinerary and date and then try www.cruisecompete.com - they will respond with a half dozen or so different offers from different agencies.

You can get discount coupons for carnival on ebay.

You sound like a really cool dad, your daughter is lucky. I think it's only fair to warn you that many single ladies go on cruises, so you might suffer some harassment. ;-)